Refilling LPG into smaller packs without changing identity is not manufacture or a new commercial commodity.

Refilling LPG from bulk cylinders into smaller tins with a pump and adaptor did not amount to manufacture because the process did not change the substance or essential character of the gas. The bulk and packed goods remained LPG, and the use of a special device or a different trade description did not create a new commercial commodity. The controlling test was whether processing caused such a vital change that the original article lost its identity; that test was not met. The sales of the refilled smaller packs were therefore not sales of a new commercial commodity.

---

---

Issues: Whether refilling liquid petroleum gas from a bulk cylinder into smaller tins with the aid of a pump and adaptor amounted to manufacture under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969, and whether the resulting sales were sales of a new commercial commodity rather than resale.

Analysis: The commodity purchased and the commodity sold were both LPG. The process did not bring about any change in the substance or essential character of the gas; it only enabled transfer into smaller packings for marketing convenience. The use of a special device or the fact that the smaller packs were sold under a different trade description did not by itself create a new commercial commodity. The price difference between bulk cylinders and smaller containers was also immaterial. The controlling test was whether processing caused such vital change that the original article lost its identity and became a different commodity; that test was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The activity did not amount to manufacture, and the sales of refilled smaller packs of LPG were not sales of a new commercial commodity.

Ratio Decidendi: Where processing merely transfers goods into smaller packs without changing their essential character or identity, the activity is not manufacture and no new commercial commodity comes into existence.

---